Co-mod writes: Not long ago Tallbloke mentioned MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) as starting to gain traction.
So I am dismayed over be-spoiling of MOOC, usage as a propaganda tool.
Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions. A FREE online course from the University of Exeter
Our very first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) begins on 13th January 2014 on the Open University’s FutureLearn platform, and lasts for eight weeks.
Teaching, factual?
“Issues we will cover include:
We have reached a real tipping point in Earth climate systems. For example, the Greenland ice sheet is melting, raising sea levels, and there’s simply no going back.
Uh huh, speaking from a position of authority, “know or ought to know” better. Let’s see the full proof.
The leader is Mr Tim Lenton working “in partnership with the UK Met Office”. He is rather young. Got himself involved in The Team, Stefan Rahmstorf and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber[5].
Stoat pokes fun “Tim Lenton is silly” and “However, I’m inclined to think that he isn’t a tosser, just naive…”[2] , err.. Stoat, he is one of yours, oh well gave me a chuckle, still not sure what he did.
BA (Cambridge),
PhD (UEA)
[ coy on letting on the whole truth ]
- We’re entering a new geological era – the Anthropocene. We are no longer going through natural traditional climate cycles. The Anthropocene is driven by man – and how much carbon we are putting into the atmosphere.
- Geo-engineering may come into its own. Cloud-seeding. Carbon storing. Mirrors in space. Iron fertilisation.
Climate change will have a dramatic effect on food production around the world, rendering traditional patterns unviable but opening up new opportunities elsewhere.
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The UK Met Office were for some years based at Bracknell, Berkshire, not far from London, so travel was trivial enough for passenger types and hence the nearest university was Reading, why it is a hothouse of AGW.
The Met Office headquarters was then kicked out to Exeter, Devon, reachable by railway and with an airport close by, no doubt travel expenses paid. (one-way fare to London is £98 according to Exeter university)
Is this the best Exeter could do? How are management going to measure performance, aptness, or cost effectiveness, may be small but is still a real cost.
===
- WUWT in 2011
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/19/climate-tipping-point-early-warning-system/ - Google entry
Tim Lenton is silly – Stoat – ScienceBlogs
scienceblogs.com/stoat/2011/05/05/tim-lenton-is-silly/ – Cached
5 May 2011 … However, I’m inclined to think that he isn’t a tosser, just naive (as someone said, I don’t think Tim understands the policy world very well).
http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2011/05/05/tim-lenton-is-silly/ - More of his stuff
http://www.slideshare.net/Stepscentre/tim-lenton-early-warning-of-climate-tipping-points - More of his stuff
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21626-arctic-sea-ice-may-have-passed-crucial-tipping-point.html - Ouch
Timothy M. Lenton, † , Hermann Held Elmar Kriegler, Jim W. Hall, Wolfgang Lucht, Stefan Rahmstorf and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/6/1786.abstract - Goes on and on and on
h/t to cornwallwindwatch on About
Talkshop post by Tim
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Thanks for posting Tim. I was tweeting this earlier, encouraging people to join this MOOC and use the forum discussion on it to set some facts straight.
Tchannon, observe an increase in temperature in the stratosphere.
Clear increase occurred from the previous, already the weaker solar cycle 23, in 2005.
It is clear that polar vortex is blocked in the stratosphere over Siberia.
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/70hPa/orthographic=12.14,99.28,1106
Which way is the red line going, class?
Next up: Gender theory. Followed by History Of Social Justice. (no sarc. I fully expect that. No EU Euro left unused to promote EU social engineering)
FREE online course from Exeter University in conjunction with the Met Office. Topics covered:
“How exactly could the climate be engineered to put a stop to global warming?
We’re entering a new geological era – the Anthropocene. We are no longer going through natural traditional climate cycles. The Anthropocene is driven by man – and how much carbon we are putting into the atmosphere.
Geo-engineering may come into its own. Cloud-seeding. Carbon storing. Mirrors in space. Iron fertilisation.”
In other words, a blatant propaganda machine aimed at ‘educating’ the masses into accepting that climate change is no longer natural (as it has been for many millions of years) and can only be ‘fixed’ now by geo-engineering our skies (which some people believe has been going on for many years and I’m not sure that I completely disagree with them).
Reblogged this on Cornwall Wind Watch and commented:
No problem, thought you’d be interested. Here we just assume it’s “how to keep the natives under control whilst we literally destroy their county and rip committees apart for money”.
Getting desperate, aren’t they?
It’s scary that Prof Lenton asks ‘how can we engineer the climate to put a stop to global warming?’
We need to learn lessons from history about the results of trying to meddle in this way. As James Fleming, author of ‘Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control’ states “it is critical to heed the lessons of history and understand the limits of our control over nature” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr9KVHGOmAc
Decertify this course. It should offer no academic credit. It is claptrap junk from the get go.
“We have reached a real tipping point in Earth climate systems. For example, the Greenland ice sheet is melting, raising sea levels, and there’s simply no going back.”
The important question – can we farm it yet, like the Vikings did a bit mire then 1k years ago?
“We’re entering a new geological era – the Anthropocene. We are no longer going through natural traditional climate cycles. The Anthropocene is driven by man – and how much carbon we are putting into the atmosphere.”
So my question here is, we saw roughly 1 degree of warming exiting an Mini Ice Age, but we dropped more then 1 degree to get into said Mini Ice Age… that’s “catastrophic” and clearly a sign of “Man controlling the weather”?
…seriously, how much temperature rise would be acceptable as we exit a Mini Ice Age – less then 1/2 a degree? …1/4? …maybe 0 change? …really, is that the answer? The fact we saw absolutely any climate change coming out of the MIA ‘proves’ man is controlling weather? And I just want ONE of those Alarmists tools to tell me what the “normal” temperature should be if we weren’t supposedly controlling it! Why are they so deathly afraid of that question???
“Geo-engineering may come into its own. Cloud-seeding. Carbon storing. Mirrors in space. Iron fertilisation.Climate change will have a dramatic effect on food production around the world, rendering traditional patterns unviable but opening up new opportunities elsewhere”
Oh, the solution is giant space mirrors so we can just block out the sun? Really? But I thought the Sun wasn’t involved in any of this… plus, won’t that have just a itty bitty bit of an effect on the crops they seem to be concerned about?
This is really as silly as when Jimmy Carter was pondering the possibility of dropping hot coals onto the Ice Caps to save us from the certain doom of “Global Cooling”. (In fact, maybe we should make sure he didn’t – the melting is supposedly starting from 1979, afterall…)